Friday, 19 April 2013

HIMYM Review: The Autumn of Breakups

How I Met Your Mother
 'The Autumn of Breakups' Review
 The show finally returns to form
As you may be aware, based on my reviews of the previous four episodes of How I Met Your Mother, I have been seriously disappointed for the most part. Thankfully the latest episode managed to combine great humour, which was not too unbelievably stupid, but also create a sensitive storyline along side it.

All the characters (including Nick and Victoria) had a substantial amount of screen time and overall did a great job. It was great to see Marshall and Lily as the 'know it all' couple, advising Ted on what to do. It certainly reminded me of the older episodes. But there was one elaborate joke by Marshall which I felt was a bit off and unnecessary. 
Ted was his usual self, unsure of what his next steps to take should be and it was nice to see Victoria's character more developed (Although her persona seemed to be identical to Emily from Friends). The same can be said with Nick. For the first time I actually enjoyed his character, he was a really balanced character, both funny yet serious. He was almost reminiscent of a male version of Robin. It's a shame that he won't be in the rest of the season for long. Robin too showed her caring side towards her friends but particularly Barney, but it is blatantly clear the writers did this to speed up the process towards Barney and Robins impending wedding.      
Although he was left to a side story, Barney once again stole the show, providing the comic relief that was necessary alongside the main story arc. It was riddled with puns and gags which I couldn't help laughing at. But in typical HIMYM fashion there was a darker reason behind the funny with Barney. He clearly isn't coping well with the split with ex-fiancée Quinn. 

So we finally have a good episode from season 8. Yes there were a few odd elements in the main story arc that seemed a little too rushed, combined with an ending that will likely annoy major HIMYM fans like myself (although it still left me intrigued how it will all pan out). But overall it was really enjoyable to watch and reminded me of the earlier series in terms of structure. Hopefully the rest of the season will follow in the same style.  

8/10

Sidenote: Barney's temporary wingman was pretty cute and awesome too.      

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